Day 25: 88 Temples (none) - Tsushimacho

The one problem with my hotel is that someone decided that 27° was a good room temperature.  I was sweating sitting there last night and opened the window.  I then had a mosquito problem.  I killed one that splatted blood on the wall.  That would have been my blood.  I decided sweating was better than getting eaten so I closed the window.

I opted for the Japanese breakfast at checkin and it was pretty standard.  I offered the raw egg back to the lady who brought it and she offered to fry it for me.  I did like the scrambled egg that came back. I did leave the natto untouched.  Even within Japan there is debate over natto.  Many people are passionate about it on both sides.  I hate it.

The walk started along the highway but traffic wasn't too heavy and the was a segregated sidewalk.  That lasted about 2 hours where I knew there would be a Lawson before going off the highway and into a climb.

As usual I took off my pack and left it outside store.  When I have a backpack on I take up way to much space in a store so I just leave it outside.  I put my staff in the umbrella holder and noticed two other Henro staffs.

Inside I met Lynn and Michelle, from New Zealand and Norway, respectively.  They are a married couple moving from NZ to Norway and taking a break along the way.  We chatted for a bit and found we would be at the same business hotel tonight.  They headed up the mountain.

I got some rice balls and green tea to carry for lunch.

Right out of the store I was off the main road and 5 minutes later taking a path between a house and a garage that lead to a path in the forest.  It was straight up from there.  A 450 meter climb but it was not as steep as some earlier ones or maybe I'm getting fitter.

I caught up to Lynn and Michelle at a Henro hut taking a break.  I left first and stopped at the peak with an awesome view and ate my lunch.  L and M passed.  I let my stuff dry in the sun.  I had drenched my shirt and Henro vest on the climb.

The route over the mountain was so great on a nice day like today.  If it had been raining I might have stayed on the highway.  This was one of the highlights of the trip.

The descent wound through a valley that in the next few years would have a freeway overpass through it going to a tunnel that would come out near the Lawson I had been at.

I passed L and M taking a break.  It was 2 hours to the hotel and I was going into grind mode.  I only stopped to get a latte at a Family Mart and got to the hotel about 4pm.

When taking my stuff to the washing machine L and M were checking in.  I said I saw a chicken restaurant on Google I want to try and if they were interested let me know.  We ended up at the chicken restaurant and ordered a bunch of stuff.  We drank a bunch of beers and had a pretty good time.